土木工程英语建筑初级水平Unitfoundation.docVIP

Unit 4 Foundation Foundations are bases placed on the ground so as to spread a vertical load over it．Bases，which carry horizontal load，are usually called abutments. Foundation may be built in one of many different materials．It may be of timber or of steel joints encased in concrete, of reinforced concrete(r．C．)or plain concrete without reinforcement．Structures built on strong rock generally need no foundation since rock is usually as strong as concrete，and goes much deeper．All that is needed on rock is a little concrete or mortar to make the surface 1evel． One of the commonest foundations in the civil projects is that for a concrete column or a steel stanchion．It is generally designed for the same maximum load as the column，and usually is an independent foundation．Where the pads in one row become large that they nearly touch，it is convenient to join them into a continuous(or strip)foundation，which generally will be cheaper to dig and to concrete than the same foundations built separately as pads． Combined footings are those in which the would be so large that they nearly meet，but unlike strip footings．they may carry the load from more than one row of columns．The final development of the combined footing is the raft foundation in which all the pads are combined into one reinforced concrete slab，which may vary in thickness，but is usually same thickness throughout its area． The design of a multi-story building on compressible soil is difficult and therefore extremely interesting．Compressible soils are like a sponge，sinking most where the pressure is greatest and the load is largest．Thus even if all the foundations are designed for the same bearing pressure，say l ton／square meter，the largest foundation will sink the most because it has the largest load．A correct foundation design will therefore apply a higher bearing pressure to the smaller foundations and a lower one to the larger foundations．The exact calculation of this different bearing pressure i